Are people with Aspergers more likely to commit suicide?

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Did you not go to school your whole life? Were you homeschooled or what?

No, I started when I was five.

ALL people who are treated like dogshit by parents, peers, or society at large are more likely to commit suicide. Full stop.

The only reason depression so often seems "comorbid with Asperger's" is because most of us are continually treated like dogshit.

I really don't think there can be any more to it than that.

I agree with that synopsis -- it really IS that simple.

Yes. I read somewhere that there is an unusually high rate of suicide among aspies/auties.

http://www.autismawareness.info/autism- ... e-risk.php
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/pu ... 2086.shtml - interesting speculative article on famous people who may or may not have been on the spectrum
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37003.asp
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=239&a=2371

I can see how it is possible, I was depressed a lot and I have had thoughts of suicide when I was a teen. I felt that I was all alone in this world, growing up in a small fishing community that held on to old fashioned values did not help at all.

Yep I think so. Since many aspies have depression and that can lead to suicide

I'm certainly at the stage where a found out what was wrong with me all these years. Why i couldn't make close friends, why i walk weird, etc.. And it just doesn't seem possible to find love, hold a job, or even enjoy life. I have suicidal thoughts in my mind everyday.

Absolutely. That's it.

I think the idea that there's a single condition called "depression" is idiotic.

Like some movie star or Nobel Prize winner or corporate CEO feels like his life is hopeless in obvious contradiction to the facts, and it's the same condition as if some guy in my situation feels like his life is hopeless because that's the only possible conclusion that can be drawn from the facts.

It's like if medical doctors assumed that everybody with abdominal pains had the same condition.

I would be astonished if aspies didn't have a higher suicide rate.

i sometimes wonder whether my cousin who committed suicide was an aspie.

ALL people who are treated like dogshit by parents, peers, or society at large are more likely to commit suicide. Full stop.

The only reason depression so often seems "comorbid with Asperger's" is because most of us are continually treated like dogshit.

I really don't think there can be any more to it than that.

I completely agree with that the isolation and despair felt by people with AS would contribute to high suicide rates for sure. The long-term emotional dmage of non-diagnosed AS may also play a part. I have often thought about suicide and also of taking a gun and then killing myself afterwards in Aus we have little access to guns thank god.

I think I agree with dkmnow.

Im a member of a self harm support site and an awful lot of them struggle with suicidal ideation's but there aren't many aspies on there, there are a few but not that many. Obviously thats only one site but I think that if theres anything in your life that makes it harder than it should be you're more like to have suicidal tendencies.
I don't know why Suicide always seems so...logical in the moment, it causes so many problems.

Clinically, yes.

It's a miracle I've survived to 47. Since early teens I've had depressive bouts and been very close to suicide. The problem was always that life seemed so damn pointless. Education, job, marry, raise a family, retire and die. It really did feel like I'd been born on "The wrong planet".

I did have a real attempt at suicide a few years ago but ended up in hospital (where I was treated with total contempt by the nursing staff) but survived unscathed. It did make me re-evaluate my life and decide that big changes were needed. I've been much happier since then. While life still seems pointless, at least it is bearable and quite enjoyable at times. However, I suspect that when I do eventually die many years hence it will probably not be of natural causes. If and when life becomes to much of a burden due to failing health and old age I will likely just check out.

I think the problem is that suicide is more associated with low mood and long-term depressive illness...

I was diagnosed as clinically depressed in October, put on SSRI's and told to refer myself for counselling by my doc. It wasn't until I began seeing my psychotherapist that I learned not only does she really think I have Aspergers, but a great deal of my depression stemmed from that, coupled with the feeling of being an 'odd peg' my whole life.

Since being treated for my depression, I no longer feel suicidal, dark, or quite as worthless, and I understand that NT's are just as likely to have a bout of depression (and low self-image, even suicidal thoughts) as any of us. And more importantly, and I speak from my own experience here, it IS curable, the suicidal feelings can truly be beaten, and you can feel the happier moments again.

Best of luck.

Unfortunately pat666rick, I think you're on to something here. A short while back I was trying to be optimistic about the potential for better adjustment for younger members here who have been diagnosed much earlier in their lives than those of us in our 40's and up. Some of the recent posts by the younger members of this Forum have been very disturbing. Young people wanting to take pills or cut themselves. It's a shame that they want to do this and put their families and friends through the ensuing self doubt and blame on top of the heartbreak of losing someone that matters to them.